Gang Member Sentenced in Drive-By Slaying of Girl

A Los Angeles street gang member who was convicted of first-degree murder in the random drive-by shooting of an Inglewood girl was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years to life in state prison.

David Brooks (Let Loose) Cole, 22, a member of the Rolling 60s Crips gang, had been released from a California Youth Authority facility only a month before the shooting of 10-year-old Dominique Blackshear in February, 1987. She was struck in the head by a bullet that crashed through the dining room window of her family’s home.

Cole remained expressionless Tuesday as he was sentenced by Torrance Superior Court Judge Cecil J. Mills, who had found him guilty after a two-hour non-jury trial in August.

Criminal Background

“The sentence is appropriate considering that the defendant is a young man,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Janet Moore said. “Obviously, he’s no stranger to crime.”

Cole had a long series of juvenile offenses dating back to 1980, when he was charged with battery for beating a schoolmate, court records show. By the time he was committed to the CYA in 1982 for robbery, Cole had also served time on juvenile probation and in a county probation camp on burglary, assault and auto theft charges.

Moore contended that Cole fired about four bullets at Blackshear’s two stepbrothers, Andre and Revel Jackson, as they stood outside the home on 77th Street at about 9:30 p.m. One of the bullets went through a window, striking Dominique as she was walking through the dining room. She died hours later in surgery.

Inglewood police believe Cole was seeking to retaliate against the rival Inglewood Family Blood gang for a previous shooting. The Blackshear home is in a neighborhood claimed by the Blood gang. The Jackson brothers, police said, were apparently random targets. Andre Jackson has known gang ties, but his brother does not, authorities said.

In a sentencing report, Cole--who said he had been a Crips member for a decade--expressed anger at his conviction. He claimed that he was at a girlfriend’s apartment at the time of the shooting.

But Andre Jackson, the only eyewitness to identify Cole, testified that the defendant fired a gun at him from the passenger seat of an old Chevrolet. Jackson said he saw Cole’s face for about four seconds as the car passed slowly under a street light a few feet in front of him.

Before the sentencing, defense lawyer Alan Eakin unsuccessfully petitioned Mills for a new trial, questioning the adequacy of the eyewitness identification and the prosecution’s failure to provide the defense with evidence about Andre Jackson’s recent participation in a major drug case.

Earlier this month, Andre Jackson, who Los Angeles police say was an associate of the Playboy Gangster Crips, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his conviction on charges of possession and conspiracy to distribute 60 kilograms of cocaine.

Andre Jackson, who testified at a preliminary hearing in the Cole case that he was once a member of the Inglewood Family Bloods, was arrested along with two others on the cocaine charges 15 months after his stepsister’s death.

Moore argued Tuesday that the drug charges were irrelevant in the Blackshear shooting. The prosecutor added that Eakin should have known during Cole’s trial that Jackson was facing drug charges, since he appeared in court wearing a jail uniform.